San Diego – You might want to think again if reaching for a diet soda is your answer to the struggle to lose inches from your waistline, according to a new report presented this week to the American Diabetes Association. The study, conducted by the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio suggests, “this behaviour may be self-defeating.” In the data reported at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Session’s Conference, held this week in San Diego, epidemiologists from the School of Medicine said their research found that the consumption of diet soda was “associated with increased waist circumference.” Researchers from the Health Science Center monitored the diet soda drinking habits of almost 500 senior citizens from the San Antonio area. For nearly a decade they followed each individual, measuring their height, weight, and waist circumference. They kept individual records of their diet soda intake and then compared the changes that took place in their bodies, to their consumption of the popular diet beverages. Each participant was seen and examined on three separate occasions, over a 10-year period. Factored into the research study were participants current diabetes status, their leisure activities, area in the city in which they lived, age, sex, ethnicity, education and their smoking status on each return visit The research showed a “70 percent increase in the mid-section of participants in the study who drank diet soft drinks.” The study also suggested those who regularly drank diet beverages had a “500 percent greater chance to have added extra inches to the abdominal area,” then those who drank no diet soda at all. “Data from this and other prospective studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners as healthy alternatives may be ill-advised,” said Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D., professor and chief of the Division of Clinical Epidemiology in the School of Medicine. “They may be free of calories but not of consequences.” This is another major hit for diet soft drink consumers, who learned in February, from a study presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, that “drinking diet soda may be linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular events,” as reported by Digital Journal. A report by Reader’s Digest said diet soda contributes to overall weight gain and concluded that “people who drink soft drinks are less likely to get adequate vitamin A, calcium, and magnesium.” The results of one study found “those who drank diet soda have a 41 percent increased risk of being overweight or obese, for every can or bottle they drink per day.”. Beverage Digest reports that the sales of carbonated soft drink, including diet soda, has dropped significantly since 2004. While health factors were not cited as a reason for the decline, the trade publication concluded the drop in sales was not “recession driven.”
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